Duncan Enterprises, a Fresno-based manufacturer of ceramics and art supplies, has hired Larry Hermansen to become the company’s new president and chief operating officer. Hermansen’s hiring was announced this week to replace the retiring Mark Peters.
Hermansen will report to the company’s chairman, Larry Duncan, whose grandmother Erma Duncan started the company in the family’s garage in 1946. Hermansen comes to Duncan from working in Kansas City as general manager of E.K. Success Brands, a paper craft division of Wilton Brands. Prior to that, he spent 13 years developing and operating a pair of creative-products companies that were eventually sold. He also was an owner and partner of Chatterbox LLC for six years working in sales and marketing.
Peters, Duncan’s COO since 2006 and president since 2011, will remain with the company as vice chairman of the board but will be retiring to work in his family’s ranching business. A transition plan calls for Peters to begin turning over leadership of various business units to Hermansen through 2016. Hermansen will lead the company’s sales, product development, marketing and manufacturing teams and oversee finance and other administrative operations.
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